LEADING OFF 
Loyola Chicago (4-22, 0-3 A-10) hosts Saint Joseph's at Loyola Softball Park for its home opening Atlantic 10 series featuring a doubleheader on Saturday, March 22 at 12 and 2 p.m. followed by the series closer on Sunday, March 23 at 12 p.m.  

QUICK HITS 

• Sophomore utility Maddy Hickey leads the team at the plate with a .500 batting average and is second in on-base percentage (.550) behind junior outfielder Sierra Sass (.559). Sass is second on the team in batting average with .490. 
• Senior pitcher Peyton Pepkowski is just one strikeout away from recording 600 career strikeouts and would be the second Rambler in program history to meet that feat, behind Brittany Gardner (2011-14) who recorded 753 strikeouts in her career. Two Ramblers have recorded home runs this season; Hickey leads with three, a career-high, and rookie Alli Pawlowicz has recorded two for her career-high. 
• Head coach Alicia Abbott clinched her 100th career win in the Maroon and Gold after Loyola defeated St. John's, 2-1, on Feb. 14 in walk-off fashion. 
• Loyola tabbed No. 3 in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, raking in 84 points, for its second straight season in the league's preseason top three. 

SCOUTING REPORT 
Under the helm of head coach Gina McCool, who's in her second season, Saint Joesph's (12-12, 3-0 A-10) is currently on a four-game winning streak after sweeping UMass in its A-10 opening series then defeating Villanova, 3-1, on Wednesday night. The Hawks bested the Minutewomen by just one run in all three games, with the closer going to extra innings.  

At the plate, senior utility Hailey Malito leads the team with a .316 batting average and a .487 on-base percentage, while Sierra Fretz, another senior utility, has the team-high four home runs on a .464 slugging percentage. In the circle, rookie pitcher Marla Freiwald is the bullpen leader with a 3.27 ERA through 40.2 innings pitched.  

SERIES HISTORY 
Since their first meeting in 2015, the Ramblers have held the series advantage, 7-2, against the Hawks. Last season, Loyola won the regular season series at Saint Joseph's, dropping just the first match then later that year the Ramblers defeated the Hawks in the opening round of the A-10 tournament.  

Looking back at last year's regular season series, Pepkowski recorded nine strikeouts across two games while senior Andie Broniewicz had seven through 12.0 innings pitched. Sass tallied three hits, one run and one RBI across the series. 

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream the series on ESPN+ and follow softball on Instagram and Twitter/X @RamblersSB for in-game updates.